Google News: Say Goodbye to Google+

Remember about seven years ago, when one or two of your friends said to join them on Google+, but none of us did it? We were consumed with other social media platforms and still realizing the power and reach of all social media outlets. In the SEO world, we were researching, refining, and re-defining the effectiveness of SEO, one word at a time. And at Google, along with other projects, engineers were busy launching Google+.

We think this news story is a lesson in how ideas remain ideas until they are launched, then they become reality. Then the idea is to make sure the idea was actually a good one in the first place. That’s where we come in. We help keep you in-the-know with Google News, and we thought you’d be interested to know that Google recently announced it will be closing down Google+ for consumers after it discovered and disclosed a privacy bug. Not to mention, it wasn’t quite as successful a launch as originally anticipated.

“This review crystallized what we’ve known for a while: that while our engineering teams have put a lot of effort and dedication into building Google+ over the years, it has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps. The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds.”

Well, it happens. Ideas formulate based on a need or niche for a solution to a problem. Sometimes that idea takes form and little platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram arrive. Other times, it’s just not a product or service consumers see as a priority, or it doesn’t solve a specific enough problem or satisfy a need for the consumer to utilize in their everyday routine.

At Apartment SEO, we’re committed to looking ahead and looking out for you. The digital marketing world is volatile and multifaceted. We’re concerned with any changes that impact your goal of turning leads into leases and prospects into residents. While we don’t anticipate the loss of Google+ to impact searches too much, rest assured that as a Google Premier Partner, we will keep you informed.

The Google+ dismantling will occur over the next 10 months. According to Google, “Over the coming months, we will provide consumers with additional information, including ways they can download and migrate their data.”

In the meantime, ideas are free and irreplaceable, so keep them coming. It is from our shared ideas we create lasting solutions that grow meaningful communities.